In 2003 at the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov, the premiere of the play "Copenhagen" took place. It had only three characters: Niels Bohr (Oleg Tabakov), Werner Heisenberg (Boris Plotnikov) and Margret Bohr (Olga Barnet). They all meet in the next world and try to find out: why did the German physicist Heisenberg come to occupied Copenhagen in 1941 to the Dane Niels Bohr? In leisurely conversations about the wave theory and the 235 isotope, the question “Why did he come to Copenhagen?” Is repeated.
Denmark has long been friends with Germany, without returning to the pressing issues of the past, monuments have been erected to Niels Bohr, and in both Copenhagen - theatrical and real - there is a sculpture of The Little Mermaid, Rhodhusplads Square and Tivoli Gardens. Copenhagen retains its status as a city of arts and sciences, and has now become the capital of modern Scandinavian architecture.
The Danes have long been occupied with the problem: how to reach the level of the Dutch in modern architecture? In order to comprehend the secret of the neighbors' success, international conferences, meetings and symposia were held. And now in the Netherlands many Danish architects are successfully designing, and in their own - Danish - style. This is generally in the nature of the Danes: to study the experience of different countries, but to do it in their own way, in some ways even better.
So why come to Copenhagen today? Take a look at modern architecture, of course. Almost all public buildings in Denmark are accessible for visiting and, as a rule, combine several functions. Black Diamond was no exception - the new building of the Royal Library of Denmark built by schmidt hammer lassen architects in 1999. Its old building dates back to 1906, and the entire library complex consists of four buildings: three buildings of the University of Copenhagen and the main building on the island of Slotsholmen.
When we hear the adjective “royal”, we involuntarily imagine frescoes, columns, gold leaf and other attributes of “monarchical” architecture. But not in Denmark: brought up in the Lutheran faith, the Danes consider modesty and convenience to be the main values, and the new Royal Library also embodied Danish architectural tastes.
Black Diamond is so named because its facades are made of black granite and glass. The granite, known as "absolutely black", was quarried in Zimbabwe and processed in Italy. The building is 7 floors and is divided in two by an atrium, which offers panoramic views of the harbor. Almaz is connected to the old library building by overhead passages and includes, among other things, exhibition rooms, a cafe and a restaurant, a hall with 600 seats and rooms for scientific studies. It has already become an "icon" of modern Danish architecture, and although all the architectural techniques used there are not new, together they give a feeling of comfort and a completely Scandinavian combination of modesty and imposingness.
The next object worth talking about is also a library. It has, in comparison with "Black Diamond", a completely unfavorable location: you need to get to it from the city center with transfers by different types of transport, and its area is boring and monotonous.
But just in such cases, it is customary to build something that could revive an uninteresting place and attract people there. Therefore, in 2011, the Biblioteket library was built here according to the project of the bureau COBE and TRANSFORM: it was decided to call the library "Library" because of the appearance of the building, which resembles a stack of books - at least this is how the architects themselves interpret the image of the building, but to an outside observer this similarity is not obvious.
The Library combines many functions: there is a cultural center, and departments for the little ones, for teenagers and adults, a copy center, a cafe, and even a beautiful terrace where, provided the Danish weather is favorable, you can sunbathe. From the first minutes of the visit, it is striking how many people are here - of very different ages, from three to eighty years.
It is also really pleasant to be here: unlike the majestic "Black Diamond", the "Library" has a completely different atmosphere. Graffiti on the walls, modest decoration materials, the main staircase, where visitors spend hours talking. A sense of simplicity and accessibility is created here - "like at home". Therefore, it is not surprising that this institution instantly became very popular. However, in the "Library" there is a lot of Dutch architecture, and therefore it cannot be called "purely Danish": rather, it is a very successful hybrid.
So my walk through Copenhagen smoothly deepens into the social sphere, which is also very Danish. Therefore, the last object in today's series is a student residence. In general, the dormitory is a terribly fashionable topic in Europe: the best architectural firms are fighting to design the most comfortable, inexpensive and stylish dwellings for students, and Denmark is no exception. In the Russian mind, a university hostel is usually something terrible, where it is better not to get into; however, in domestic "hostels" there is a place for comfort - on the floor for foreign students.
Copenhagen has many student dormitories, and of course there is no difference between Danish and foreign student dorms: they are all very comfortable. But even among them there is a record holder for comfort: this is the Tietgenkollegiet, built by the Lundgaard & Tranberg bureau. A competition was announced for the project of this hostel, and its participants, based on the square shape of the site, proposed “square” solutions. And Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects chose the round configuration and won. Their concept originates in the dwellings of the serf type in the southeast of China - tulou. The peculiarity of such a structure is that the living quarters there are located around the perimeter, while all public functions are carried out inside the circle.
The Tietgenkollegiet is "cut" by five permeable verticals that serve as passageways to the interior of the building and to the circular central courtyard. On the ground floor, there is a cafe, a hall and other public spaces. Students' bedrooms are located around the outer circumference of the building and face the outside, while common kitchens, lounges and terraces face the courtyard.
Both the interior and the exterior of the hostel use wood and concrete, the facade is partly sheathed with wood, and partly with panels of tombak, a type of brass. Many structural elements are open to the interior.
The hostel is designed for 400 students, but getting here is not an easy task: almost exclusively excellent students can count on an "elite hostel".
And at the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov, an electronic board lights up with the names of the sights of the Danish capital. The performance "Copenhagen" is coming to an end, but the question "Why did he come to Copenhagen?" and does not receive an unambiguous answer. One thing is clear: it was something very important, without which Copenhagen would be completely different today.
